Since Roman times, and possibly before, society has committed large amounts of financial resources, time and labor creating infrastructures that provide a readily available supply of water and means for disposing of waste water. History is filled with construction projects involving the creation of simple and sophisticated: aqueducts; wells; cisterns; large, elevated storage tanks; pools; reflecting pools; dams; locks; reservoirs; desalination plants; ditches; moats; storm sewers; sewage treatment plants; and the like.
Where a readily available supply of water was missing, society's answer to such a problem was to drill a well, build a series of canales or water conduits, and/or construct a desalination plant.
Technology has constantly moved toward creating bigger, grander and permanent water supply and treatment systems.
The cost to create such infrastructures and systems, however, can undermine the financial and labor reserves of a community.
There are also certain situations that do not lend themselves well to the creation of such complex water supply and waste water systems. For example, military forces are frequently required to move quickly to very remote locations and be ready to move again at a moment's notice. Upon arriving at such remote locations, traditional water supply and waste water treatment infrastructures are usually nonexistent.
There may not be sufficient time, machinery or manpower to drill a well. Furthermore, the ground water and/or well water may be inaccessible, contaminated and/or otherwise unusable.
Under such circumstances, usable water must be transported and delivered to military personnel at such remote locations.
The laws of local dictators, monarchs, governments and/or principalities often require that as a condition of using the land as a staging area, drop-off area, or for military maneuvers, the military must not contaminate the land. This includes a prohibition on disposing of waste water on the ground or in local streams, rivers, lakes, seas or oceans. Waste water must be effectively removed from the area or be moved to a designated holding area.
Keep in mind that such military actions often involve tens of thousands of persons. For example, the reader may reflect upon what has become known as the Gulf War, wherein more than 250,000 thousand military personnel were transported to a barren desert location that was devoid of any water supply.
Water that was transported to that desert locale was considered to be a very valuable commodity. To indiscriminately dispose of such water, that could be recycled and reused, was inexcusable. Furthermore, use of such water was usually quite severely rationed.
Given this scenario of a dirty, grimy, possibly contaminated, remote location, now imagine thousands of military personnel exiting heavily used latrines, without facilities to wash their hands, and heading to the mess hall. It is not surprising that many of these individuals became ill and required medical attention. Keep in mind that the nurses, physicians, dentists, and other health professionals that provided medical assistance, used those same or similar latrines.
Heretofore, the only facilities for health professionals to wash their hands in such circumstances was a supply of cold water contained within a water bag that was hung from a tree or post. The neck of the water bag would be uncorked with dirty hands, thereby contaminating the outside of the water bag. The health professional would wash his or her hands, and then the contaminated water bag would be again corked. By re-corking the water bag, the health professional would again contaminate his or her hands.
Although such a method of washing one's hands would be generally considered arcane, inefficient and largely ineffective by anyone's standards, heretofore it was the best system available under such circumstances.
Of course, the risks to all military personnel involved, both to the patients and to the medical personnel, dramatically increased whenever surgery was performed and/or open wounds were treated.
The seriousness of this sanitation problem is exponentially increased when military personnel are operating within a radioactive environment, with radioactive dust settling upon nearly every exposed surface.
The military is not the only group of persons that are faced with this sanitation problem. Other groups, such as campers, boy scout troops, girl scout troops, hunters fishermen, farmers, and field hands that work agricultural crops are similarly faced with this problem.
Similarly, school facilities, medical clinics, and field hospitals in remote locations and within many third world countries also face these same sanitation, water supply, and waste water disposal problems.
The inventor believes that the foregoing information, whether taken alone or in combination, neither anticipates nor renders the present invention obvious. The foregoing explanation does not constitute an admission that such information is relevant or material to the appended patent claims. Rather, such information relates only to the general field of the current disclosure and invention.